Stolen Lives
by Kellifer Monkey
Summary: [Phone Booth, 2002] Starring Kiefer Sutherland. The Caller feels he needs a change of tactics, after his failure with Stu Shepard. On his next call things will be very different. Rated R for adult theme and adult language. Be warned, it is dark. COMPLETE!
1. A Change Of Heart

"Isn't it funny… you hear a phone ring and it could be anybody? Yet a ringing phone has to be answered, doesn't it? Doesn't it?"  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Hello." answered a trembling voice.  
  
"Hello Diane." The voice on the other end of the receiver whispered into her ear as though he were a secret lover rather than a complete stranger.  
  
"Gary? Stop fooling around would you; I have so much to do today… You know I have to take James to the doctor's surgery. Why aren't you home to take care of the girls?"  
  
"Diane, this isn't Gary." Said the man, with a soft and crumbling voice that seemed to search out her fears and latch onto them like a tic or a leech or something. "Your husband won't be home today…"  
  
"What? Why? Who is this? Do you work with my husband, has something happened to him? Please tell me, I need to know." Diane was scared; something in this man's voice made her very nervous and awkward. He was commanding and unassailable and yet something about the way he spoke made her quiver inside.  
  
"Diane, there are many things you need, my dear; knowing the whereabouts and condition of your husband is not high on the list right now."  
  
"What do you mean 'his condition'?" she asked with an irritable tone. She hushed her son who was pulling on the tasselled sleeve of her grey cardigan. "Who are you? What is this about?"  
  
"First things first Diane, please do not interrupt me. I don't like these sporadic comments of yours while I am trying to make my point. I will answer your questions in due time. Please respect me and I shall endeavour to show that same generosity towards you."  
  
Thinking he had said his peace, Diane began to ask her questions. Obviously her male caller was not feeling generous.  
  
"DIANE! I mean what I say! You will obey me… or I will not offer you any further opportunities…"  
  
"Mommy, please? I want my chocolate milk… I did my spellings… please, Mom please?" whined Diane's nine year old son James, with tears in his pale blue eyes.  
  
"Obey you? Who the hell are you? Why should I do anything you say anyway?" Diane spat down the receiver with a furrowed brow and a nervous twitch in her grey blue, left eye.  
  
"You will obey me Diane; simply because I ask you to. I know you Diane Elizabeth Cartwright, born 12th of January 1968 to a ranching family in err Prescott Arizona, I believe…"  
  
Diane didn't know what to say; her father had a mental breakdown when she was six years old and the ranch that had been passed down the Peterson family for generations was burnt to the ground, with her mother and two older brothers inside. There was no one who knew about that part of her history… not even Gary.  
  
"How do you know that? Who are you?" She asked uneasily.  
  
"Now… I'm not sure about this… I never disclose my name to anyone, usually." He paused as though contemplating something far greater than telling the woman his name. Perhaps the worthiness of a political debate or the plight of the third world…  
  
"My name is Cole." She didn't know how privileged she was to hold such information; for that matter she didn't know much about the man who had called himself Cole and had been monopolising her days schedule for the past six minutes.  
  
"Well, Cole; what do you want from me?" she asked with a new found strength to her tone. Somehow being able to use his name in the flippant way he kept slurring hers, made her feel like she could fight back. Cole laughed softly and Diane felt that quiver rush through her body again.  
  
"All I ask is your permission." He seemed to want to say more, so Diane waited patiently; for some reason feeling afraid to disobey him again.  
  
"My permission, for what?" She asked after enough silence to cause the hairs to stand up on the back of her neck. She rubbed her dishwater soft hands over her neck and down her throat and over the swell of her cleavage. Cole gave a gentle sigh and took a deep slow breath.  
  
"You are a very beautiful woman Diane… very beautiful indeed." Diane felt herself blush a little and that little girl's giggle escaped her lips as she tried to contest Cole's flattery.  
  
"That's generous, Cole, but if you can see what I look like right now…"  
  
"Grey woollen cardigan, over and pale blue tapered blouse and charcoal pants… do I need to go further?" She looked shocked and that quiver inside turned quickly to a chill. "I must say that I find your maroon vest far more alluring, but the black lace is good over that milky white complexion all the same."  
  
Diane stood up and walked towards the kitchen window closest to her. Apprehensively she looked out across the street, towards the abandoned house three doors down. It was the obvious place, and had a perfect view to her bedroom window.  
  
"How do you know me, Cole? What do you want from me?" Diane asked, trying to control the pitch and strength of her voice.  
  
"I told you what I want, Diane. I want your blessing…"  
  
"My blessing, for what? Are you going to hurt me? Where are you? I know you can see me, but this isn't fair; I want to speak to you properly… face to face."  
  
"I can't do that, Diane. I'm sorry…" This was getting a little too freaky for her by this point and she began to cry. Her son was concerned and tried to hold her hand, but she couldn't risk Cole seeing him too. What if he could hurt her?  
  
"James, I'm fine; please go and play with your sisters in the lounge." She wiped at her eyes and sobbed into the palms of her hands. "Where is Gary? Just tell me what you want and leave me alone… why are you doing this to me?"  
  
"Diane, don't cry." The man on the phone wasn't really trying to comfort her and the words were barked almost as strongly as one of his orders. Still that unnerving quiver inside her wouldn't quit. There was something strange about Cole, something familiar.  
  
"I'm not sure you are ready for me to tell you what I want…" Cole began to explain. His voice was soft and gentle and almost managed to lull her into a sense of false security. But Diane Cartwright wasn't as weak as she could come across. Losing everyone who had been dear to her, forced her to be strong, forced her to survive; whatever Cole wanted with her… she was determined he would not get it.  
  
"I want to know where you are… I won't tell you anything… I will put this phone down right now if you don't tell me what the hell it is that you want with me."  
  
"That wouldn't be wise, Diane. That really wouldn't be a wise decision."  
  
"I'm hanging up. I'm sick of this shit; I wish I'd never picked up this Goddamn phone. I was about to take my son to the doctor…"  
  
"I know Diane; he is depressed isn't he? Has trouble sleeping; a lot of nightmares. Can't concentrate in school and doesn't like to play with the other children."  
  
Now Diane thought herself a good mother, she worked a lot more than she wanted to; Gary was useless at his job and had lost more that year than they'd had months pass them by. She did what she had to; it was her way.   
  
Moving quickly she went to the lounge room and hushed the three children with her fingers. Since James had already explained to his two younger sisters that Mommy was a bit sad; they did as asked, immediately. Quietly she ushered them into the dinning room and from there, into the back hall.  
  
"Diane, what do you think you are doing?" Cole said as she wandered in bare feet through the dimly lit hall with the cordless phone pressed between her shoulder and her left ear. "Come back to the kitchen where I can see you properly, right now."  
  
"F…Forget it! I'll only come out when I can see you too." Cole laughed to himself; a cracking, scolding laughter. She felt stronger now; she felt she could stand up to the torment of this stranger, but that laughter was enough to make her doubt herself again.  
  
"You want to see me?" Cole asked as though he were inviting her to see something clandestine and private. "What difference would it make for you to be able to see me when I impart my knowledge to you?"  
  
Diane hadn't noticed her youngest daughter creep away from their little group. She was trying to calm her son who in turn had got himself rather distraught trying to figure out what was going on with his mother. She didn't notice as Abby picked up a small brown envelope and tried to recognise what the letters on the front meant.  
  
"Well Cole, if I could see you, maybe I would be more likely to believe what you have to say to me!" Again with the assertive attitude. It was just an attitude though, for Diane was shaking like a leaf behind her strong tone. If she had given in to his request and returned to the kitchen table, it would have taken him seconds to see that this was all false bravado.  
  
Cole couldn't afford to play around, what he had to do today was probably one of his more important assignments. More lives were held in the balance today than had been ever before. This was a new avenue for him to explore and he was taking chances… something to make the game more interesting and worthwhile from his selfish point of view. Mostly he picked on self absorbed business men, or occasionally women; who thought themselves above common morality. There had been only one that survived his games. Stu Shepard had been his last case and the only one to make Cole reconsider his actions.  
  
"Oh Diane; have no fear, my sweet; you will believe what I have to say…"  
  
"Oh yeah! What makes you so sure, Cole? Why should I be paying any attention to you at all, right now? Why shouldn't I hang up this phone and walk away this minute?"  
  
"Why, indeed?" Cole asked with a sinister tone. "My subjects have never remained this long before without threats… why do you think you have stayed on the phone to me all this time?"  
  
She knew why she hadn't hung up, the moment she realised it was some weirdo calling her up. There were two reasons at first. She wanted to know what he knew about Gary and she also wanted to know how on earth he knew about her past.   
  
Cole knew of another.   
  
He was breathing softly down the phone; his breath was husky in his throat as though he smoked a little too much and there was an accent that she couldn't quite place; behind the false one he was using. The scratching and clicking of technical equipment was sure to be hiding his location. What else could she hear while she had a little time to think? There was a truck coming along the road outside and she could hear it echo down the receiver. He was close.  
  
"No answer, for me, Diane? Maybe you wanted to know where Gary is." He left her time to reply but when nothing was said he answered for her. "Perhaps not… You don't get on with your husband do you Diane? He has very little time for you, is that why you aren't particularly bothered to know his whereabouts?"  
  
"That's none of your business!" Diane retorted, defensively.  
  
"Oh, it is so, Diane." He said with a mockingly playful tone. "You made it my business when you attracted my attention in the Briggatto Mall a few weeks back."  
  
"Huh?" Again with the mocking and sinister laughter. Cole could make her skin crawl and her blood run cold. How could a disembodied voice, be giving her such strong feelings?  
  
"Perhaps you remember me? You should do. I saw you watching me at the food hall deli; I saw the way you looked at me too. Or maybe you look at a lot of men like that, Diane; since Gary likes to put it elsewhere!"  
  
"What? What are you talking about? Who are you?" Being caught out, window shopping when she was meant to be spending quality time with her kids, made her feel enormously guilty. She didn't make a habit of giving guys the once over but she couldn't deny it was true.  
  
"It's okay Diane, I don't mind you looking. There was a time, a while ago that I wouldn't have appreciated a married woman mentally undressing me… but things change, don't they Diane? Sometimes people have needs that require outside assistance."  
  
"Is that what you are talking about then, Cole? You want to assist me?" She was, of course, referring to some kind of sexual favour; and she believed, so was he. That wasn't what Cole had in mind, least if it was in his mind; it hadn't been part of the real plan.  
  
"Momma, what's this say?" Abby asked holding out the brown envelope. Diane hushed her daughter and gave her a slight smile to show that she wasn't angry.  
  
"Well Diane, as much as that offer makes my blood rush; that wasn't what I had in mind. As I said, I called you to impart to you, some information that I have come upon since you last saw me."  
  
"Is Cole your real name?" asked the thirty-five year old woman, who right then felt like she was sixteen again with some warped crush. Thoughts swamped her mind and she tried desperately to seek out his face from her memories of that Christmas shopping trip to the mall. He had cropped blond hair and wore a tight fitting green t-shirt and black pants. He smiled kindly at the counter assistant and offered her the correct change in shiny silver dollars.   
  
She couldn't remember a whole lot about him, other than the fact that he seemed much more polite than the average Christmas shopper on a Saturday afternoon; and that he had a nice butt. The later she definitely wasn't going to admit to.  
  
"Would you believe my answer this time, any more than you did my previous one?" He asked; making her consider him even more.  
  
Cole could see her shadow from the frosted glass in the front door. He watched as she shuffled about, rocking against the wood panelled wall.  
  
"I might?" she replied softly. "Now that I know who you are?" She heard something in his voice then and was too busy listening for what she thought she recognised, to hear his answer.  
  
"Fuck, Diane!" He snapped when he realised she hadn't been paying him full attention. "If this was me, a few months back, I'd have blown your head off by now." Thud! The shock caused Diane to fall back against the wall and hit her hip on the doorframe.  
  
"Ouch!" she gasped as the pain washed over her and made her suck back the air through gritted teeth.   
  
"Be careful and listen to me. I'm not messing about here. This isn't some plot to get you to go out with me, my dear. What I have to say is important and there is a lot more to this than what goes on in my pants!"   
  
Diane couldn't help but laugh. It was completely inappropriate and she couldn't even begin to rationalise why she did it or why she was feeling this weird kind of attraction to a man who had just told her, he could kill her.  
  
"You are a clever girl, my name isn't Cole. It's where I bought my shoes, if you must know. Now take that envelope that little Abby is holding and send the kiddies to play while you come back to the kitchen where I can see you."  
  
"Why?" She snapped back at him, taking the envelope from her daughter and reading her name, neatly printed on the front in black ink. "Thank you, honey; you go with Jamie and Claire and play, okay precious?"  
  
The Caller was happy to see that, Diane was doing as she was told so quickly. Perhaps this new plan to encourage morality in people was more effective than he'd imagined it to be. Killing people didn't seem so worthwhile anymore. It was beginning to seem like an 'eye for an eye', and that wasn't what he had in mind. He hadn't planned to let Stu go; he hadn't expected him to want to change. No one ever really meant it before; no one ever deserved a second chance before. But Diane was different.  
  
"Okay, you see me now… whatever your name is? Tell me what you want and stop trying to screw with my head. You are upsetting my kids."  
  
The Caller gazed at her through his rifle scope; his eyes running over her body like water flowing down a hillside waterfall… caressing every curve and swell.  
  
"Yes, Diane. I see you. Now open the envelope; and by the way… my name's William but you can call me Will. That is, if you believe me this time?" 


	2. A Bitter Truth

Diane was shivering and her bitten down nails, had real trouble getting into the tightly fixed manila envelope, which had undoubtedly been sealed with a wet sponge, rather than the lick of the sender's tongue. Will wasn't stupid enough to leave his traces on the evidence… least not while it was still evidence to be found.  
  
He hoped a search wouldn't be necessary, if everything went according to plan, no one would think it had anything to do with Diane… of course no one ever assumed it had anything to do with him either. They would both walk away the better, for what had happened; but Will wasn't going to take responsibility. This was Diane's choice.   
  
"Come on, Diane. We don't have all day… you don't anyway!" Will chuckled to himself and took off his glasses to watch her soft fingertips trace over the back of the envelope, which he'd been holding in his hands only moments before.   
  
"It's not anything horrible is it? I mean it's not… gruesome." Diane asked with a trembling voice that matched her quivering body.  
  
"Di, honey; what isn't gruesome in this world? Even the good things are messy, aren't they, Baby?" Again his mocking laughter resounded in her ear and she tore at the paper and closed her eyes tightly, before pulling out what felt like magazine cuttings or something.   
  
"That's right honey; good girl. Now tell me what you see?" He said in that unnerving tone, that, had it been under completely different circumstances, would have had her all a quiver for an all together different reason.  
  
"Oh dear God!" Diane gasped as she saw the first of the three glossy black and white photos. Tears ran down her cheeks unconsciously, it hadn't taken a moment for her to feel the pain he'd brought upon her.  
  
"What is it, Diane?" He said in a softer and kinder voice than either he or she had been used to before.   
  
He hadn't meant to get affected by all this personally. He'd told himself that he was just cleaning up the mess. He was helping someone by taking away their misery… Diane's misery; being in the form of her perverted husband. He'd help take her pain away, a pain that up until a moment before hadn't existed for her… but it had existed for her son; and as what Will believed was a good mother, she would take this on herself. He wasn't disappointed.  
  
"Diane, what is in the photo?" He said again. "Tell me who you see, honey."  
  
"It's my husband…" She sobbed; feeling her heart lift up into her throat.  
  
"And?" Will asked, although he knew the answer before he'd posed the question. Diane almost choked on her tears and gasped up a loud and wheezing breath before answering the Caller.  
  
"And my son." She sobbed. Her hands flicked backwards to the other photos. It was obvious her son was in pain, and she felt it wash over her all at once. Rushing to the sink, she threw up violently, until her face became pallid and grey.  
  
Will watched her through his scope and for the first time he pitied her for real. He'd come across women who would turn a blind eye to this; just so that they didn't have to deal. He was hoping that Diane wasn't one of them. He let out a slow breath and tried to compose himself again, she was going back to the phone and the photos. He knew she would… he knew he had her in his power… but he hadn't realised quite how much he was in hers until that moment.  
  
"Tell me this isn't true, Will. Please tell me this is just some sick game you are playing with me." Will swallowed hard. He regretted telling her his real name now. Having her plead to him… really to him this time… not just a voice… it was hard to answer her.  
  
"I'm sorry, Diane."  
  
Her hands both came up to her face and she rocked back and forth on the kitchen bench, all the while sobbing almost silently into her hands. Will watched her from the house across the street. He'd been renting a room there for the last two months, all the time watching the goings on at 1259 Waterside. He didn't like to admit it, but he had got too close. It hurt watching her cry like that. It hurt to have been the one who introduced that demon to her… it hurt that he wasn't removing her pain right this moment.   
  
"Why? Will. Why did he do that to his own child? How could he? How can anyone?" It was as though she was talking to her closest friend, to her lover, to God himself. Not just a man with a rifle and her husband in the corner of his room; gagged and bound and begging, between his tears, to be let loose.  
  
"I don't know Diane. I don't know why people hurt the innocent. I could only ever hurt some one who didn't deserve to live…"  
  
"What gives you the right to choose who can live or die?" Diane shouted back at him. "Why should you be the one to decide what is good and what is bad? Why did you have to bring this to me? Why me, Will? Why me?" For a moment he thought she was going to deny it and carry on like nothing had happened. He moved the rifle to take aim at her head. If she let this go on; she too deserved to die.  
  
"I brought this to you because I thought you deserved better…"  
  
"You think you are better?" She asked taking him off guard for a split second." No one had ever turned the tables on him, quite like she had today. He'd planned this for weeks and always took every single variable into account… army training gave him a good balance for the work. He had his moral code; like any officer had rules he lived by… but Will had seen too much needless suffering… things needed to be fixed.  
  
"Well, Will; do you think you are God? You can choose to take lives and ruin others…"  
  
"How dare you!" He shouted angrily back at her. "I am trying to put things right. Your husband has been doing those disgusting things to your own son for months, years perhaps… and you say it's me ruining your life! You ungrateful bitch!"  
  
"Fuck you!" Diane shouted. "You know nothing about me? You don't know how I feel."  
  
"No, I probably don't. I've never been married; had very few girlfriends and definitely no kids…"  
  
"No? How can you be so sure, William. The way you talk… I bet you love to put it about… How do you know there isn't some little bastard out there, just waiting to become as good as his Daddy?" She was angry, and probably in denial. It wasn't going to be easy to get through to her, and William knew of only one way that had got him close.  
  
"I haven't got children, Diane. I can't have kids."  
  
"That's good news. I'm glad. What do they sterilise scum like you at birth?" Diane wanted to cause him pain now too. She was no longer afraid of him; he couldn't hurt her more than he already had. She wanted him to feel what he was doing to her… what all this meant. How terrible this was.  
  
Why hadn't she seen what had been going on? The last photo was taken from the window of her own bedroom. In her own bed… the bed she'd woke up in that very morning, beside a man she felt she hardly knew anymore; but some how still managed to find a reason to love. The reason… there was only one… her kids.  
  
"Diane, that really isn't very nice. I want to help you. I'm doing this to help you…"  
  
"Why? What do you want? You want me? You want to take out your dirty little fantasies on me, then fine. Just why do you have to make this stuff up? Why do you have to…"  
  
"He abuses your son!" Will shouted "That man you kiss goodbye every morning to go to that awful job of yours, just so you can put food on the table when he can't even stay in a packing factory… he has been hurting your little boy over and over… do you want to see the rest of the photos Diane… do you want to see the video evidence.? The sound recordings from the parabolic microphone I use? You want to hear what that's like…"  
  
"No!" She screamed out loud. "Please, Will… please stop, please, Oh God please stop saying all this."  
  
"You ought to try living it?" He said in little more than a whisper.  
  
"What?" She asked equally softly.  
  
"Maybe you are right. Diane. I don't have the right to choose. I did once… I could have been brave then… I had a happy childhood when…"  
  
"Why do you want to help me, Will? Why did you call me?" She was the commanding one now. The fear and pain she had absorbed was enough to make her fight. The tables had turned… but she wasn't like William. She couldn't hurt people for revenge, she just wanted to make it all stop to make it right again… to take the pain away for her son… her daughters… herself. What surprised her was that there was another on that list.  
  
"You aren't fighting my battle, are you, Will? This is for you, for another little boy… a long time ago?"  
  
William couldn't believe what she had managed to do. He was the experienced and trained one in this, she was a counter clerk in a market a few streets away… she wasn't a killer, she wasn't powerful… but she was strong and determined and…  
  
"Yes."  
  
Diane heard the door squeak open and quickly stuffed the photos back in the envelope before her son could see what she had found. She waved for him to come to her and hugged him so tightly; he had to push her away so he could breathe.  
  
"Momma, you are squeezing too tight…" He smiled as she let him go and kissed his forehead. "When are you going to be done on the phone, Mom? I want us to watch TV and I…"  
  
"I love you, Jamie. I don't want you to be sad anymore, okay. I don't want anything to make you feel scared. I'm going to stop that now." Jamie didn't know if his mother understood or not. He was ashamed of what had happened to him and didn't know how to react to his mother's honesty.  
  
"We'll make everything right for us now. Me, you and the girls are going to be so happy from now on. No one will hurt my little soldier again. I promise."  
  
Will watched, as Diane hugged her son, the way his own mother had done… all too late. He watched as she stroked his hair and whispered to him that she loved him and she was sorry. He watched the pain in her eyes turn to anger again and he knew he had achieved his aim. After comforting him through his tears and supporting him for as long as he needed it, she sent Jamie off to play in the lounge room and told him to take the box of cookies from the cupboard. His smile was enough to give her the resolve she needed.  
  
"What are you going to do for me, Will?" She asked surprising him back to the matter at hand.  
  
"Huh?" he said, pulling himself back from the memory of those dark days. He could barely remember what happened to him; before he started school… his recollection was of extreme pain and guilt… a guilt he should never have carried. A guilt that today, would be taken away… for more than just himself.  
  
"You want my blessing? Permission? I'll take your guilt away… I'd take the blame myself if it wasn't for leaving my children…"  
  
"All I need is your word. I need for you to understand what is going to happen… and you won't get caught. I'll make sure you and the children are okay… I just need to hear…"  
  
"It wasn't your fault."  
  
Silence.   
  
Will hadn't just lost control this time, he'd let her inside. She had barely even noticed him, she didn't know him… she didn't know what had lead to this day. In just over an hour she had read him like a book for five year olds!   
  
"It isn't James' fault and it wasn't yours. You're right, someone has to choose. God, let us both down. Maybe someone else should be making the decisions…"  
  
"You deserve to live, better than you do, Diane. After everything that you have suffered… you deserve happiness, greater than this life."  
  
"I want you to kill him." She said bluntly. "I want him gone. I want the pain gone… I want to make things right."  
  
"Okay, that's all I needed to hear. Take care of your kids, Diane. Have them in bed… in James' room… at the back of the house. I'll call you when it goes dark; you'll receive instructions. Do as I tell you, and it will be all over very soon." 


	3. Choosing Life

"Tell me why you deserve to live Gary." Will said looking down at the stocky looking forty-something who had been bound, blindfolded and gagged since he left his home at six that morning.  
  
"I… I… I'm sorry." bawled, Will's latest victim. "I… just I… didn't know what I was doing?"  
  
"Liar!" Will spat back at him? "You knew what you were doing? You knew well enough to scare that little kid into silence. You knew what would happen to you if the law found out."  
  
"I… I didn't know, I… I didn't realise; I never meant for things to go that far…"  
  
"Well whatever you knew, Gary. The law is the least of your worries now." Will took off his sweater and stretched his broad shoulders until his back cricked into a more comfortable position. Gary watched through his tears as Will rubbed at a grubby looking mark on the white shirt he was wearing.   
  
"You have one chance… and let me tell you Gary, it isn't a good one…" Will began as he turned away from his prey and looked for another clean shirt. After glancing through about twenty neatly pressed shirts on hangers, Will took out two and held them up.  
  
"What do you think your wife would like more, Gary?" He asked holding up a black cowboy style shirt with large lapels and silver buttons in his right hand, and a deep blue one with light blue pinstripes and a missing top button.  
  
Gary was too afraid to hear the question properly, let alone answer it. "Huh? I…I…"  
  
"I… I …" Mocked Will, looking down at Gary on the floor shivering with fear. "Hell Gary, you really are a pathetic piece of shit aren't you?" He glance over the shirts again and then looked down at Diane's wretch of a husband.  
  
"I think the blue; smart enough without looking too… shit what's the word I'm looking for?" He wasn't talking to Gary now and unfortunately the man found his tongue in time to find room for his foot in his mouth.  
  
"Too much like a crazy person?" Gary was rewarded for the first full sentence of the day; with a boot in the stomach. "Argh!" he groaned feeling all the wind burst out of him and a splatter of blood spill down his shirt. When he looked up Will had removed his shirt and was still trying to choose the most appealing outfit.  
  
"My wife would never look at a piece of crap like you!" Gary spat. Will spun round and gazed down at Gary with amusement.  
  
"Is that so?" The shirt slid over his toned torso and he fastened the buttons up to the missing one. When he was satisfied that it looked good enough, he responded to Gary's statement. "Then how come she wants me to blow your head off and take her away from, the utter disappoint of a life, which you have been offering her for the last, ten years?"  
  
"You don't know, my Diane." Gary said between sputters of bloody and mucus. "She would never have anything to do with you; she loves me… she's faithful to me…"  
  
"Unlike the way you are with her, you mean? Hell Gary, I've been more faithful to that woman than you have and I only get to jerk off about her!"  
  
"She loves me!"   
  
"No she doesn't." It wasn't an argument, it wasn't an order. It was just a statement of fact. Will knew Diane, a thousand times better than her husband did. Ever since he noted the way she looked at him, he became obsessed with her. He followed her home and watched how she acted with her children… at first he didn't know whether his attraction was sexual or just for the mother figure he'd never really had.  
  
William Lamberson had many hang ups from a past which irked at him and tormented him in later life. He was thirty-nine years old and had live the first part of his life in terror of his father and his older brother Martin. Both of them abused him behind his mother's back until the police took his father away; when Will was six. Later Martin continued this behaviour without their father's encouragement and as Will had later discovered; with his mother's knowledge.  
  
Will had been weak and when he was finally able to leave home, he swore he'd never let anyone control him again. He'd never be reliant on anyone the way he had been on his treacherous mother. He'd succeeded until that day.  
  
"She loves her children, Gary. Despite the fact that you helped make them." Will pulled up and chair and twirled it around to sit astride it, directly in front of Gary Cartwright.   
  
"She would do anything for her kids, even pretending to still love you." Gary looked away from the intensity of Will's glare.  
  
"Why are you doing this? What does it have to do with you?" he asked, still afraid to meet his attacker's eyes. "Who do you think you are anyway?"  
  
"God!" Will answered without a hint of sarcasm.  
  
This frightened Gary more than the case full of automatic weapons stashed under Will's neatly made bed, in a battered old trunk, bearing the number of his regiment in the infantry. It frightened him more than the Parker and Hale sniper rifle on his desk, which until a few moments ago had been pointed at his wife.  
  
Will noticed Gary's interest and found a new line of questioning. "Tell me Gary, do you want me to kill your wife? I could you know…" He picked up the long range binoculars and watched Diane moving around her bedroom, seemingly in a daze.   
  
"I could blow her away in a heartbeat. No one would see or hear a thing. I could let you go and pretend to be Daddy to those sweet little kids and I could walk away from here and let you abuse them for as long as you wanted. Would you like that Gary?"  
  
Gary shivered with terror. But Will noticed the give away sign, that Gary hadn't the will to control.  
  
"Would you like God to let you continue hurting them?" Will growled down at him.  
  
"You're sick!" Gary muttered.  
  
"Yeah, maybe I am. Just as sick as your kids would be without their Mom to put their lives back together."  
  
"So kill me then, if that's what you want? Just do it." Gary was trying to act tough, but the tears streaming down his face and the whine in his voice told Will he had won.  
  
"Can you tell me why a person like you deserves to live?"   
  
Gary just sobbed. Will had had enough of listening to it. He got up and punched Gary until he lost consciousness.   
  
"Go to sleep Gary. I have things to do." 


	4. Two Roads Diverge in a Wood

"Diane."  
  
"Yes, Will. It's me." She replied calmly. He cleared his throat and took a sharp short breath.  
  
"I have another decision for you to make?" He said with a strange softness to his voice; that she hadn't noticed, if it was ever there before.  
  
"Go ahead." She told him, hardly showing any anxiety at all. She was resolved now, to do as she had planned. She felt so betrayed and disgusted with her husband that she probably would have pulled the trigger herself. Sweeping and abstract moral judgements flew out of the window now; it was her son being hurt and her husband doing it. It was a family matter and should be dealt with, however harshly; as a family.   
  
"Are you sure you want to do this? I'm sure eventually; with all the evidence I have garnered, that the courts could do something about it."  
  
What was he saying? Who was this person who had taken over his mind recently? Only a few hours ago he was as hungry for blood as he'd ever been, he had a new aim; that much was true. However he never would have planned to let someone walk away… would he really let Gary go if Diane wanted it?  
  
"Of course I'm sure. Will, you know as well as I do, that he has really destroyed our family and the pain he's caused James…" Her voice was shaking and about to break. Will wasn't watching her at that point; he was busy organising the evidence with his latex gloves on and a pair of tweezers to handle the photos; but he heard her sadness and felt a pang of sorrow for her.  
  
He was glad she hadn't gone back on her word. He didn't want to have to kill her; he didn't want to leave her children without a mother and what if little James had heard his mother call Will by name? He'd have to kill them all if she changed her mind, he couldn't risk being caught. It was her decision to kill her husband, but it would happen whatever she chose. He'd take her life first, if she backed out; quickly and without a lot of pain. Then Gary… although his discomfort wasn't a priority.  
  
"Diane, you must remain calm. I know this is difficult…"  
  
"Will, just tell me what I have to do." She sighed and sniffed away her oncoming tears. "I don't know how long I can continue being strong and I need to be with my son… he needs to understand it wasn't his fault…"  
  
"Okay, well I can do this two ways; I know he has a lover, a guy from work named Mike. I can work things so that it looks like he killed your husband out of jealousy, but if I add someone else to this… I don't want you to be drawn into things."  
  
"What's the other option?"  
  
"I give you the evidence. I deliver it unmarked and no one can trace it to me, so if you wanted to get me blamed…"  
  
"No!" Diane exclaimed. "Will, I don't want you to get caught for this. You have helped me. You helped my son, I never would have found out and he is already really sick and, that bastard…"  
  
Will was a little spooked by this turn around. No one had ever thanked him before, even if he thought they should have done; they didn't seem to agree with a hole in their heads.   
  
"There should be no danger to you. Keep the children away and play some music or the TV. The only difficulty is that you have to be seen to confront Gary with the evidence when he comes back. I don't know if you can handle seeing him…"  
  
Diane listened to the concern in Will's voice. How could this be the same man who, only hours before, had threatened to blow her away for not paying attention to him? Would he ever have done that?  
  
"Then what? Do I have to shoot him?" Diane asked, strangely calm and in control even now.  
  
"No, I can do that…" he began.  
  
"You'll come back with him?" she asked quickly, and then mentally chastised herself for the desperation in her voice.   
  
Despite herself she saw Will as some kind of saviour; and her gratitude was mixed with a toxic cocktail of lust, for the man she remembered at the mall; fear for her life and that of her kids, and a raw energy. A primeval desire to fight to protect her babies to the death, had taken over her mind. She felt like she was out on her own and however much it scared her, the comfort of Will's domineering voice offered her stability.   
  
"No. You won't see me." He paused to listen for any hint of disappointment in her voice. Other than a gentle intake of breath, there was nothing. Diane had been resolute; she would not sound like a fool if he denied her.  
  
"I could identify you, Will. I remember you from the mall, you don't have to stay away to protect yourself. I can hardly rat on you, when this phone call is evidence that I conspired with you to kill my husband."  
  
"There is no evidence of this call Diane, or the earlier one. Nothing can be traced and no one will ever know I was involved. The neighbours won't hear shots, as I use a silencer and if they did, they'd assume it was Jez Banks at 1280, back-firing his kit car."  
  
"So I'll never see you again?"   
  
Silence swept over the line and Will was lost in thought. How could she have affected him like this? It wasn't her, he told himself. It was letting out all those memories… they were what freaked him out so much. It wasn't her offer of comfort, or her concern; it wasn't the shoulder she was offering to him, so that he could talk of his own miserable past… it wasn't her gratitude… it wasn't her lust… it couldn't happen to him. No one ever wanted him. He chose to ignore her question. This was business. He had work to do.  
  
'What about being cared for finally?' Asked a little voice in his head. He shook it out of there before it could take hold… this was business… she was just thankful… that was the aim… he wanted some gratitude. He didn't want to fall in love… love was what made people weak anyway…  
  
"Since this will look like suicide, you will not receive any life insurance payments from Gary's employers. The story is likely to make the papers and it is going to bring up the whole situation for James." Will paused to give her time to think on his queries and to think on his own inextinguishable feelings.  
  
"I don't want anyone else brought into this, particularly not with a gun. I can take care of James. I can move if things are too hard for him or the girls here… I'll be okay…"  
  
Will found himself a little amazed at the strength she was already showing. Raising three young kids alone and penniless wasn't going to be a simple task… Would she be alone for long? Would she have to be alone at all?  
  
Again Will ignored his persistently challenging thoughts.  
  
"You won't have to go without. I can give you money… the way I work… I have a fair bit put away."  
  
He was crossing a line here. She had to understand what she was doing to him, surely. She had to see the way he had turned to mush, in the passing of a few hours talking to her. He thought it would be closer for him to use her situation for his own ends. Instead he found himself being torn apart by it and ripped open to all the emotions he'd managed to quash for the last twenty years. How could she not have seen his weakness and… why hadn't she abused it like all the rest?  
  
"You'll shoot him from where you are?" Diane asked; her voice showing a little more anxiety now that the time was creeping up on her.  
  
"There will be two packages. One contains approximately fifty photographs… I don't suggest you go through them. There are several voice recordings and a video tape; you shouldn't go through this stuff more than you have to, Diane. If this goes to court or anyone needs you to review the evidence…"  
  
'What Will? What should she do, if she has to face up to her worst nightmares alone? You took Gary away this morning, before he could hurt the boy a second time. Even you couldn't stand by and watch that happen again… how do you think she will cope seeing that shit?'  
  
"Do you have anyone…" But his question was pointless. He knew she had nobody close to help her. She had no family. Being brought up in foster homes, didn't encourage lasting relationships… all she had were her kids, and what was she going to do; ask her daughters to hold her hand while they watched the video evidence for identification purposes?  
  
"If something comes up…" he sighed and cursed at himself mentally for doing this. "If you have to look at that stuff and you need someone… place an ad in the New York Times, in the personals."  
  
"What should I say?" Diane asked expectantly. Good question.  
  
"Ask for the guy from the Briggatto Mall to contact you and say you like photography and watching movies. Leave your name and number, I'll find you as soon as I can."  
  
He made sure she was clear on her instructions, the contents and use of the second envelope, and that she really was sure she wanted it to go this way; then it was time to go.  
  
"Goodbye, Diane and good luck." He was about to hang up, he didn't want to hear her say goodbye. He didn't want to have to feel goodbye.  
  
"Will?" she said quickly. He paused and she could hear his husky breathing as he waited for her to speak.  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"There's no need, you have the hard work to do. Take care of James and the girls; they need you to be brave for them."  
  
"I'll try my best… all I can do is love them." She spoke with such honesty, such purity. How he wished she'd been there for him too.  
  
"You're strong, you always have been. Take care, Di."  
  
Silence took then again and she wanted to say something more… she wanted to repay his favour to her, she wanted to ask him to stay. Maybe this was Stockholm syndrome of sorts, whatever it was she knew she didn't want them to go their separate ways forever. He didn't want to say goodbye… he had to be stronger… he had to have control…  
  
Click hum.  
  
"Will, please don't go…" she cried, too late. "I need you." 


	5. Final Arrangements

An hour later two parcels arrived by courier. It was the first time that Diane realised how far ahead this operation had been planned. Will had been watching her for months. If she had ever believed that she had a choice in the matter she had been a fool. Will knew everything that had happened to her… probably for her entire life; and he'd seen it all these past few months. What did she know of him?  
  
"Excuse me, before you go; can you tell me who sent these?" Diane asked the smartly dressed teenager with a clipboard for her to sign.  
  
"No, sorry Ma'am I can't. It was left at our depot for delivery. I couldn't even tell you who left it, as the office is empty after three in the afternoon on Wednesdays." Diane nodded. She had never expected Will to leave himself open like that… it was just wishful thinking.   
  
"That's okay. Is this confirmation of delivery, though? They could be important packages and I'd like to know everything is alright and signed off…" The young man nodded throughout the whole of her speech, but allowed her to finish what she wanted to say, all the same.  
  
"Yeah, this is a record, so if anything is wrong, you can fill in the form at the bottom and send it to us for compensation. All our parcels are tracked… err that's why I must be off… sorry if this next one is late, I'll be strung up!"  
  
Diane smiled and thanked the courier before going inside. It wasn't instantly obvious which parcel was which and Diane found herself opening the evidence envelope first. The glossy photos were clipped together in batches of ten or so, and given a white paper cover to keep the images from being directly apparent.   
  
Diane felt her stomach lurch as a sickening curiosity grabbed her. She knew for her to pull off her side of the deal, she had to be caught looking at the evidence when Gary got in. For that to happen she needed to know that the images she would have to be staring at weren't so horrendous that she would lose control of the situation. If only Will had marked them some how.   
  
The first three were horrifying enough, and made her feel terrible for her little boy. How could this have happened without her noticing? Why didn't she see what was going on with her son? The fear that consumed him all the time… the nightmares of 'bad men' coming for him. The time for questioning was gone now, though. She lifted a sheet of white paper and saw that the first pile of images were of the same line as the ones Will had sent her earlier.  
  
Will watched with his binoculars from the house across the street. He'd seen the maroon clad lackey deliver the packages and he'd watched as Diane went inside to the dinning table and opened the evidence envelope. His heart sank with hers as she took out the first file of photographs. A cold chill ran up his spine and gripped his neck with a spasm of muscle and sinew. He hated bringing this to her… he hated hurting her, and as he watched her begin to cry, in heavy gut-wrenching sobs; he wanted to go to her. He wanted to step out of the shadows and take away this evil without her having to be a part of it.  
  
'Why couldn't you have just killed Gary, like the rest? Why get the poor woman involved?' His conscience was nagging at his mind and he was losing control of the situation.   
  
"Christ! Will, get it together man!" he told himself.  
  
It wasn't so easy. He'd told himself that he'd involved Diane so that he could absolve himself of responsibility; or so that she could learn her lesson too, and know that he could return if she didn't look after her son. He had transferred his own fears and bad experiences onto this woman's son and he wanted revenge for his own pain. He'd killed his brother and his father when he got out of prison; he'd left his mother with her own guilt and she'd commit suicide a month later. Now he wanted some other way to try and rid himself of all the pain he held onto day after day. He wanted peace and through this woman he was going to get it.  
  
"Get up, scumbag! I'm letting you go." Gary could hardly believe it, as Will started cutting the plastic ties that held his hands and feet.   
  
"Why?" Gary spluttered still a bit giddy from being beaten so harshly.  
  
"Your wife needs someone to take care of her." He said helping the man to his feet. He wasn't lying; she did need someone to care for her. Though Will, didn't for a second believe it would, or could be Gary. He wanted it to be himself… but that couldn't work after all that had happened.  
  
"You are never going to hurt that boy again; you understand!" Gary nodded frantically. Will dragged him from his room and out the side door of the building. The expression on his face and the tone of his voice was completely unreadable.  
  
"Remember Gary, I have enough evidence to put you away for the rest of your life and they won't be nice to a child molester like you, in there. What I did to you will feel like a sweet dream if you get put jail."   
  
Gary Cartwright shivered and nodded over and over like his head was coming loose. He really thought Will was letting him go.  
  
"I won't tell the police about you… I… I won't tell anyone."  
  
"Damn right you won't! That is unless you want me to tell the boys, down the station, where to find your little video collection?" He glared at the man that he'd been holding hostage for almost twelve hours, and found it hard not to take out his gun and shoot him like the dog that he was.  
  
"Go... before I change my mind," Will spat at the bruised and beaten face before him. Gary rushed off as fast as his aching legs could carry him. As he got to his own front door he felt that it could all have been just a crazy dream, had he not been beaten black and blue.  
  
Will waited only a moment, before returning to his room and the sight of his Parker and Hale. The window along the front of the dining room had been opened, fully and he saw Diane with the few photos she could look at in front of her.  
  
The slide and click of his rifle comforted him, and made watching her tears fall onto the glossy prints, a little easier.  
  
It would all be over very soon. Goodbye to Gary… goodbye to the pain he'd caused his son… or at least the cause would be gone, even if the damage would never heal fully. Today was going to do a good job of closing some of Will's wounds too.  
  
"You didn't think it was that easy, did you?" Diane snarled at her husband.  
  
"What? What are you talking about?" She threw the photos towards her husband, who manage to catch only one, as the others scattered on the carpet. He picked them up one by one, gazing at the images; while all the time his face was turning more and more ashen.  
  
"Diane… I…" he stammered. Walking towards his wife and putting the photographs down on the table, he tried to plead to her for forgiveness, which would never come.  
  
However much Diane had planned ahead, and however much she waited and expected the shot… it shocked her when it came. A clean shot to the head and her husband was splattered all over the wall and crumpled upon the floor. Diane closed her eyes to the scene and the horrible images before her, and then let out a slow and freeing sigh.  
  
The night outside was balmy and the leaves were beginning to fall from the trees, producing that warm and comforting scent that hinted at the festivities on their way. She inhaled deeply and pictured her holidays without Gary, her life without that cruel and hateful man hurting her boy. She thought of how they would be happier now that James wouldn't live in fear of his father's perversions… and then she thought of Will.  
  
Walking from her seat, in the centre of the room, to the window; she searched the horizon for the man she remembered. She knew he wouldn't be there, she knew that it was done and he was gone forever.   
  
She put on the latex gloves from the second envelope she took out the shiny black and silver revolver and placed it in her husband's right hand… hooking his still warm fingers into the trigger. She removed the gloves and hid them under the kitchen sink as Will had instructed.  
  
As she stood up from her task she noticed a glint of light across the street; she looked up at the small window and saw the curtains flapping in the cool autumn breeze. A tear rolled down her cheek and she let out a sad sigh as the days events made a path behind her.  
  
One day all this would be just a bad memory. She was brave, she'd help repair the damage to her family and eventually maybe they could all find some peace. But she would never forget that voice or that picture in her head; of a guy she wasn't sure she even remembered properly. There would never be a day when she didn't listen and look for him somewhere.  
  
As she called the police and started to play the distraught wife and mother, she knew that she'd never forget what he had done for her. She'd never forget who had given her the future she could now look forward to and enjoy, and she'd always be grateful and thankful of that phone call. 


	6. Epilogue

The man put down his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose with his left thumb and forefinger. It had been a long day and he desperately wanted to go home to his wife and kids. It was two days before Christmas Eve, why did he have to work today? No one in his office had kids to be with… well who said life was fair?  
  
The phone rang on his desk and he snatched it up with his right hand; his eyes rolling at the two minutes to finishing time perfection of the call.  
  
"Hello?" he said in a weary voice.  
  
"Hi. I err… is this…" said the nervous voice on the other end of his call.  
  
"The New York Times, can I help you?"  
  
"Yes, I'd like to place an ad in tomorrow's paper, please." 


End file.
